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| "I should've gone to Michigan" |
The Ohio State University is one of the premier college football programs in the country. The success of the program is unparalleled with 831 wins, 7 national titles, 37 conference championships, 7 Heisman Trophy winners and the list goes on. The Buckeyes have either won outright or shared a piece of the Big Ten title all three years that Terrelle was at the helm. The success has been off of the charts.However, Ohio State will get him to the NFL in the second or third round as a tight end. Michigan would've gotten him there in the top 3 of the first round as a tight end. Therefore, his pay grade would have grown exponentially. Let me explain.
When Pryor was in high school he was a YouTube sensation because he was a natural running quarterback like Vince Young or Michael Vick. He was a perfect fit for Rich Rod's spread offense. At the time Michigan had just hired Rich Rodriguez from West Virginia and he was bringing the spread offense to the Big House. The most obvious choice to run it was Terrelle Pryor. If he'd gone to Michigan he would've been given the green light to use his natural ability to create a masterpiece. At Ohio State playing under conservative head coach Jim Tressel, he was hand cuffed from being the natural play maker that he was.
Pryor made the mistake of listening to the media and scouts saying that he needs to play in a pro-style offense if he wants to get to the NFL. That simply isn't true and if it were, why go to Ohio State? How many Buckeye quarterbacks have gone on to play in the NFL and been worth anything? When you figure it out call me.
See the key is to have the best collegiate career possible so that you can get drafted on the first day. The mistake was trying to change who he was. You can't become something that your not. Tim Tebow or Vince Young would never have been drafted in the first round if they'd gone to let's say... USC to play in a pro-style offense because they would've been exposed early on. Neither of those guys could throw the ball worth anything. It was because they were such great runners that when they did decided to put the ball in the air the receivers were wide open. Therefore, they accumulated ridiculous stats while in college with Tebow winning the Heisman and Vince Young placing 2nd. Reggie Bush won it only after he destroyed Fresno State on national TV but that's for another discussion.
My point is that if Pryor had gone to Michigan and played in a system that allowed him to use his natural ability he would've been at the level of Tebow or Young statistically. Michigan would've been much better over that three year period because other kids would've followed him to An Arbor because his was the best player in the country.
If he was going to be a project in the NFL he may as well been a rich project sitting on the bench or playing tight end as he's been projected to do by the NFL scouts. According to USA Today, top 10 picks in the 2006 draft signed contracts that guaranteed an average of $18.7 million. If he's drafted in the third round he'll have an average salary of $350 to $400k per season. Now he won't be poor by any means but he would be leaving a significant amount of money on the table because he let the experts tell him who to be.
JaMarcus Russell was the first pick in the 2007 draft and earned $29.02 million guaranteed. He was garbage at LSU. He only popped up on the radar after he completely destroyed an overrated Notre Dame team in the Sugar Bowl that January. He was clearly a project and four years later he's not even in the league but he made off with Captain Ahab's treasure. At the end of the day it's about making a living because either you're an NFL quarterback or you aren't. Listening to everybody else won't change your skill set. I was always told, you don't choose the sport, the sports chooses you. What's your opinion?
Jay Graves
jaygraves@barbershopsports.net
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